


Reality Called

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e19 Bad Moon Rising, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-25
Updated: 2006-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-30 11:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15095969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Donna mulls over the progress of her"relationship" with Josh after the events ofBad MoonRising.





	Reality Called

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

FF: Our Two Consciences: Reality Called (1/1) 

TITLE: Our Two Consciences: Reality Called (1/1)  
AUTHOR: Laurel A. -- Love that  
feedback!  
SPOILERS: Everything up to, and including, Bad Moon  
Rising.  
RATING: PG  
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aaron Sorkin's.  
ARCHIVE: Archive anyplace, just let me know.  
SUMMARY: Donna mulls over the progress of her  
"relationship" with Josh after the events of Bad Moon  
Rising.  
AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks to Michelle who supported me  
through Bad Broadway Fic, and who offered to love BW  
twice as much while I have been almost completely  
distracted by Colin Firth.

This is the next installment in the Josh/Donna Post-Ep  
POV series, "Our Two Consciences" by Michelle Hoffmann  
and myself (although you don't have to have read any  
of the others to jump on in now): 

Roles by Laurel A.  
Masks by Michelle H.  
Donna Moss Talks About Sex and Joey Lucas by Laurel A.  
Josh Lyman Talks About Strategy by Michelle H.  
Late At Night In The Soft Warm Glow by Laurel A.  
Perfect Clarity by Michelle H.  
I Confess by Laurel A.  
Static Electricity by Michelle H.  
Change, Gratitude, and the Heartbreak Turtles by  
Laurel A.  
Transformation by Michelle H.  
Filibusters, Falls, and Feline Avengers by Michelle H.  
Bast, a Bowler, and Bucking for a Promotion by Laurel  
A.  
Take, Take Me Home by Laurel A.  
The Very First Lie by Michelle H.

  


I got a phone message when I got home tonight. Well,  
not really, but since Josh and I were playing the "you  
got a phone message" game tonight with the Mexico  
bail-out, I am on a roll here, so just go with it... 

The phone message was Reality calling. Reality said  
that my relationship with Josh has changed  
considerably in the last few months. Reality said  
something about things changing around the time that  
Joey Lucas was here. 

Ah yes, I have to agree with Reality. Joey Lucas was  
here just when I was starting to face my feelings for  
Josh, and just when I was beginning to formulate my  
plan. The plan was to tell myself that I was okay  
with how I felt about Josh, no matter how he felt  
about me. 

Reality begs to differ. Reality says that Josh is  
catching up to me; that his feelings for me are  
growing. And, Reality says that it has outwardly  
changed the way Josh acts toward me. Reality is my  
new best friend. 

Josh and I do seem to have a bit of a different groove  
going than we used to. Take tonight, for example. We  
were doing our same old I Am A Taxpayer song and  
dance, where I gripe to him about what I, as a  
taxpayer, think of government spending, and we banter  
about it. We walk the halls of the West Wing and  
banter. We know the steps to this little dance quite  
well; I chase him around the halls while he dashes to  
and from meetings, we taunt and tease each other about  
the topic at hand, and we get testy and short with  
each other until I allow the subject to be dropped. 

Tonight though, while we were doing the taxpayer's  
tango, there was a different feel to it, a kindler  
gentler feel (if you will pardon the reference). It's  
almost the opposite of the AA thing I quoted today;  
Josh and I do the same thing over and over and expect  
the _same_ results. Only now, we have started to get  
_different_ results; we are progressing. Our  
relationship is progressing. And as scared as I was a  
few months ago at the thought of telling Josh how much  
he means to me, this progress feels really natural  
now. 

When you start to sense that the person you are  
attracted to might actually feel the same way, you  
would expect that there would be fireworks or thunder  
and lightning, or something symbolically significant.  
But this feels more like a soft drizzle than thunder  
and lightning, like when it's sprinkling out side and  
you are happy to be feeling all warm and snug right  
where you are. Well, that warm and snug feeling is  
coming right from the person that you, yourself, are  
feeling warm and snug about. 

I got that warm and snug feeling today when he dug up  
the 8th grade social studies textbook. I was  
beginning to feel foolish, with Josh using Hitler as a  
metaphor for helping out Mexico, but as soon as he  
handed me that textbook, the mood softened. Instead  
of getting testy about the whole thing, he was  
changing the tenor of our dance. He was dancing  
non-regulation steps! (Sorry for the Strictly  
Ballroom reference there!) He was using the book to  
get us to move from our tense tango into a slower  
waltz. Reality also says that I tend to over use  
ridiculous metaphors. 

Anywho, when Josh smiled at me as I handed back the  
textbook, I left the room wondering if I was imagining  
that things were changing between us. It was the  
smile that tipped me off. It wasn't the giant Look At  
My Dimples grin he uses to show-off. This one was  
more intimate and personal, it was a smile he wouldn't  
give to anyone else; it was just for me. 

Oops, I just got a call waiting beep from Reality  
asking me if I was going to call her back or if I was  
going to spend the rest of the evening here on the  
phone with Hopeless Romantic. Reality also wanted to  
remind me that while snug and warm are indeed a very  
present reality with Josh, working in the White House  
is also a reality, and that just because Josh might  
"like me, like me" doesn't mean that there is an  
immediate and happy ending in this for us. 

END

  


End file.
